Guitar legend MICHAEL SCHENKER is featured in a new interview with Jeb Wright at Classic Rock Revisited discussing his latest album, Bridge The Gap and his history with the SCORPIONS. An excerpt is available below:

Michael: “The thing with Lovedrive (Scorpions), it was like my brother found out that I split from UFO and it was a perfect opportunity for them to ask if I would help out. Matthias (Jabs) had just joined and wasn’t ready. I was kind of in limbo land not knowing what my next step was going to be. When I did the Lovedrive album everyone was so impressed and they really persuaded me to join the band and they got rid of Matthias, basically. I did a little bit of the tour and I realized that I could not do this. I had done this, and I had been there, but there was something else that I needed to do but I couldn’t figure out yet what it was. I was invited to audition for AEROSMITH and stuff like that. I kind of disappeared from the tour because I couldn’t talk to them as I knew they would try to persuade me to stay. I just couldn’t. Matthias freaked out and he left again and they asked me again and I said, ‘I can’t do this, honestly, I can’t do this.’ They said, ‘Please, please, please.’ I tried again but I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t stand on stage, night after night, copying other people’s lead breaks.

Eventually, in 1980, I understood what was happening. My brother’s vision was to make it all the way to the top with a band. It was his dream, but it wasn’t my dream. I am a lead guitarist who needs musical freedom. Matthias eventually joined for good and they found somebody who was pulling on the same string and that was important. I always tell my brother that he would have never been able to experience what he experienced because I would not have been pulling on the same string, as I have a totally different dream than he has. It would not have really matched, anyway.”